Twisting Statistics In Canada

"Wendy Cukier, president of the Coalition for Gun Control, recently told the Winnipeg Free Press that pellet guns can kill and are a safety problem. She cites a 2005 Canadian Pediatric Society report entitled Youth and Firearms in Canada to prove her point, and says that the report details 11 deaths caused by pellet- gun injuries.

"A quick investigation of the report Cukier cites, however, reveals some surprising details. The death data were not compiled in 2005. Nor were they compiled by the Canadian Pediatric Society. And the data definitely doesn't come from Canada. The report that Cukier cites gets its death data by referring to a separate report, written by an Akron, Ohio-based doctor in 1990. The original report, entitled 'Fatal Nonpowder Firearm Wounds: Case Report and Review of the Literature,' details American deaths, not Canadian deaths.

"So why would Cukier use a report about a report, instead of referring directly to the source? The answer should be obvious to anybody who reads the Ohio report."

Hmmm . . . . Perhaps because she thought no one would notice?

Here is the best line from the piece: "That means that during any given year in that time period, it was over 17,000 times more likely that an American would be struck by lightning than killed by a pellet gun exempt from Canadian regulation." In other words, it would be more effective to ban walks in the rain than banning pellet guns. If it saves just one life, you know . . .

Yep. That says it all. Crunch the numbers and you find reality. Kudos to Mr. Gobin on a nice catch!